


The Atlesian East Vacuo Company

by Fishykarp



Category: RWBY
Genre: 18th Century, 19th Century, Alternate Universe - Historical, Assassination Attempt(s), Atlas East Vacuo Company, Attempted Murder, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Pirates, Slavery, Some Humor, that general timeframe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21707200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fishykarp/pseuds/Fishykarp
Summary: "The Schnee had essentially given Ilia her head on a silver platter. Standing in front of her, all casual and relaxed, and returning Ilia’s weapon? Ilia could fulfil her one goal, that she’d travelled across an entire continent to achieve, just like that. And yet, she hesitated."Ilia Amitola, a rebel against the rule of Atlas in Menagerie, had one goal. Kill Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Atlesian East Vacuo Company. But when something develops between the assassin and her target, she decides that, just maybe, there's a better way to bring about change.
Relationships: Ilia Amitola/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	The Atlesian East Vacuo Company

If Weiss Schnee’s life could be described in one word, it’d be monotony. That might seem surprising, for the heiress to a grand mercantile empire. The Atlesian East Vacuo Company, known commonly as the Schnee Dust Company, controlled valuable trade territories from the vast, rich oasis of Vacuo to the warm, tropical shores of Menagerie. They had influence from the great courts of Mistral to the many warrior-kingdoms of Vale. And yet, Weiss Schnee, future ruler of it all, had never been allowed beyond the shores of Solitas.

So it was very obvious, when anything was out of the ordinary.

“So, is this some sort of home invasion, or a kidnapping attempt.” Weiss’ voice echoed through the vast third-floor bedroom of her family’s manor in Atlas. “I’d suggest the latter, in any case. Father tends to keep most valuables in the bank, a ransom would be far more lucrative.”

A laugh from within her dressing room confirmed her suspicion. Somebody was within the Schnee Manor.

“Typical of a Schnee, to immediately see a threat to your wealth,” the intruder said. Weiss watched the door to her dressing room open, revealing the intruder within. “We’ll see if your mind changes, when I sever your body from your head!”

The intruder, Weiss noted, wielded a sword which looked almost like a rapier, but with a notable dust cartridge at the hilt. The blade lit up with a crack of yellow lightning, and Weiss’ eyes widened. She was able to conjure a speed glyph to sidestep the blade as it extended and shot towards her, and buried itself in a grandfather clock, commissioned at no small price from the best clockmaker in Atlas. Weiss winced, father was going to kill her.

The intruder’s shout of outrage snapped Weiss out of her thoughts. If she wasn’t careful, she wouldn’t survive long enough to have to worry about father killing her.

Weiss dived behind a small table, flipping it over and ducking behind it. She heard the porcelain vase on the table shatter as it hit the floor, and silently raised her left hand to summon a glyph, levitating the porcelain shards a few centimetres above the ground. With her other hand, she reached beneath her bed to retrieve a long, ornamental case. She was glad that she’d taken the time to upkeep her own weapon daily, and now just had to wait for an opportunity to turn the tables on her attacker.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid! This was Ilia’s one chance to permanently remove a member of the Schnee household! Not only did she manage to alert that wealth-obsessed buffoon to her presence before she was ready, she’d managed to get her sword lodged into some pretentious old clock and let her quarry get away.

She whipped around to the sound of a shattering vase and barely saw Weiss Schnee cowering behind an overturned table. Ilia had to hold back a laugh, typical.

“Wow- I mean- really now?” Ilia chucked, pulling her sword from the clock. “Ok, even ignoring the fact that I can obviously see you, what part of you decided not to run further than that? I guess it makes sense. The Schnee who doesn’t even leave her cushy life in Atlas and manage her slaves is also too much of a coward to run the extra few metres out of her room and-“

Ilia never got to finish her statement, as a hail of porcelain shards flew into her. Her aura absorbed most of the impact, but she still felt a few stinging cuts. Without Ilia getting an opportunity to recover, Schnee used another glyph to propel the table directly at her. Ilia shouted in a mix of surprise and pain, as she was launched backwards and lost her grip on her sword.

Ilia tried to push the table off of her, but found herself unable to do so despite its small size. Schnee Glyphs, she assumed. Before she could think of a way out of her situation, she looked up to see Weiss Schnee with both Ilia’s blade and her own, pointed at her throat.

Internally, Ilia cursed. How could she be so stupid? The Schnees were ruthless slave-drivers, behind their public personas. Of course Weiss Schnee would know how to fight, even if her public appearances consisted exclusively of lavish parties and concerts.

“Well,” she spat. “Go on then. Add one more to the list of Faunus that you’ve crushed mercilessly for your own self-interest.”

“You tried to kill me.” The Schnee said, after a moment of hesitation.

“It was vengeance.” Ilia said, voice quivering slightly. “For all the lives that your line has extinguished.”

Strangely, Ilia felt the weight of the table lessening, and the Schnee pulled both blades away from her throat. She glared at Weiss, trying to figure out what she was doing, and cautiously stood up.

* * *

Weiss, for her part, was freaking out. Only after the intruder’s comment about crushing Faunus, did she notice the very obvious patches of darker skin on the intruder. And ok, maybe it was harder to excuse that she didn’t notice the intruder’s skin flaring up in hues of red during parts of the fight and subsequent statements, but in her defence, she was busy trying to not die.

Still, Weiss was no idiot. She knew that her attacker was obviously against her family’s treatment of Faunus in their overseas territories, the brutalities of which she was nowhere near blind to. Even if she didn’t consider herself part of the problem, it was easy to see how somebody else would.

So, sure, she could kill this intruder here and now, or at the very least hand her off to the proper authorities. That’d solve the immediate problem. But it wouldn’t stop another assassination attempt. Or another after that. Or another after that. Instead, she decided to take a gamble. And maybe, just a little, she felt some sympathy for the Faunus, who’d notably saddened when talking about extinguished lives.

She almost forcefully handed the intruder’s blade back to her.

“Get as far away from here as you can.” She said. “For a Faunus caught trying to assassinate an Atlas official, the most you could hope for is a quick death.”

The Faunus regarded her suspiciously. Of course she would.

“Well? Are you going to leave?”

* * *

Ilia was equally in shock. The Schnee had essentially given Ilia her head on a silver platter. Standing in front of her, all casual and relaxed, and returning Ilia’s weapon? Ilia could fulfil her one goal, that she’d travelled across an entire continent to achieve, just like that. And yet, she hesitated.

“You do know that I’ll come back, right?” She said, still wary of the Schnee’s intentions. “I’ll keep trying, until you, and your entire rotten line is dead and gone, or I am.”

Weiss nodded. “I know.”

“Weiss!” A loud voice boomed from another part of the manor. “What’s going on in there?”

Weiss’ eyes widened. “Just- go, now.”

  
Footsteps from downstairs drew louder, and Ilia took that as her cue to leave. She was halfway through a window when Weiss spoke again.

“Wait!” Weiss said. “What’s your name?”

Again, it’d be an incredibly stupid decision to reveal her real name to Weiss. And again, she felt drawn to do it.

“Ilia.” She said. “Ilia Amitola.”

“That’s a nice name.” Weiss said, and the two held eachother’s gaze for a moment, unsure of what to say next.

Deciding to end the moment of awkwardness that was certainly not suitable for a failed assassin and her target, Ilia slipped out of the window and disappeared into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I stayed up until 4AM researching the East India Company and 18th/19th century furniture for this fic, and do I regret it? Absolutely.
> 
> I don't have this fic completely mapped out, unlike most of my other fics (even the ones that I haven't completed, I have plans for, but haven't got around to writing), so I'm quite excited to see where this goes. I originally planned to have this fic set in canon, maybe during Volume 4 when Weiss is trapped in Atlas, but I'm already planning to rewrite that other RWBY fic that I wrote ages ago, and don't really want to keep track of two timeline divergent universes. I might keep that idea for a fic somewhere down the line, but I'd also love to read anybody else's take on this idea!


End file.
